Pelà Strikes as No. 11 Virginia Blanks American

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — An early header from Umberto Pelà was the difference in lifting Virginia to its third shutout victory in four games. The No. 11 Cavaliers (3-1) defeated American (0-3-1) by a score of 1-0 on Monday night (Sept. 1) at Klöckner Stadium.

Goals (Assist)
10’ Virginia – Pelà (Dos Santos, Parvu)

How it Happened:

• Virginia opened the scoring in the 10^th minute of play. After a meticulous build-up, Alex Parvu cut the ball back to Marco Dos Santos in midfield. Dos Santos delivered the perfect cross into the penalty area which found the head of Umberto Pelà who guided it inside the far post for 1-0.

• UVA would gain a man advantage when in the 23^rd minute, American’s Patryk Rojek was shown his second yellow card of the match. American would play the rest of the match with 10 men.
• Virginia continued to dominate in the second half outshooting the Eagles by a margin of 10-2 in the final 45 minutes of play. For the game, Virginia controlled 71-percent of possession and outshot their opponents 22-5
• The second half saw Albin Gashi and Noah Hall each come close to doubling the Cavalier lead but were ultimately unable to find the back of the net.

With the Win:

• Virginia improves to 19-4-1 in the all-time series with American
• The Cavaliers have won three consecutive meetings with the Eagles
• UVA has notched three shutouts in its first four games of the season
• Virginia notches its second 1-0 win of the season – matching the season total from 2024

Additional Notes:

• Umberto Pelà notched his first goal of the season
• Marco Dos Santos recorded his third assist of the year to lead the team
• Alex Parvu notched the first assist of his career
• Virginia took 22 shots and placed 11 on target
• American took only five shots with one on frame
• The Cavaliers won 10 corner kicks and conceded only one to American
• Sami Oulouheu and Jed Akwaboah each made their first career starts
• Oulouheu took five shots while placing four on target
• Three of Virginia’s four games in 2025 have seen at least one player from either team sent off

From Head Coach George Gelnovatch:
Just making sure we’re focused, with the understanding that, especially out of conference, everyone is coming to get us… we’ve got to be ready for it. We did a really good job with that. Immediately taking control of the game with our possession and breaking them down. I would like to have gotten that second goal at some point, get us a little bit of breathing room. But we’re still early in the season, figuring some things out… Sometimes when you’re playing a team with much more possession and they go down a man it’s really tough to score because they’re dropped off. 

Up Next:
The Cavaliers will be back in action on Friday (Sept. 5) when they travel to Blacksburg, Va. to take on Virginia Tech in the Smithfield Commonwealth Clash. Kickoff at is set for 7 p.m. on ACCNX.